Teen killing: constable in custody

A student police constable is in custody after the shooting of a teenager in Dobsonville on Tuesday night.

After almost two days since the incident that claimed the life of 16-year-old Thato Mokoka – suspected of being in possession of an illegal firearm – police have finally broken their silence.

Speaking on Talk Radio 702 this morning, Gauteng police spokesman Brigadier Neville Malila did not give a reason for the long delay in giving out official comment, but said the case was being probed by the Independent Complaints Directorate. He said the watchdog body was in charge of the matter and would be responsible for commenting.

At this stage, he said he could confirm a policeman had been arrested for the shooting and that no firearm had been found at Thato’s home.

Neighbours of the boy had told the police that he had been carrying a gun. But when Dobsonville police officers raided his house and found nothing on the teenager, he was beaten and then reportedly shot seven times in the head and upper body.

The two girls with him were assaulted by one officer inside Thato’s shack while another policeman pinned the boy to the ground with his boot on Thato’s neck.

When he was shot, Thato was on his stomach outside his grandmother’s home in Bramfischerville Phase 2. His arms were in the surrender position above his head.

“The last thing he told me was ‘Mammie, I don’t know nothing about this. I didn’t do anything,’” said his grandmother Sybil Mokoka.

Then, as she and her daughter looked on, Thato was shot.

The boy lived alone in the shack behind Mokoka’s house.

She was in her house with her daughter Mpumi and 10-month-old granddaughter Katlego on Tuesday night when policemen banged on her door.

When she opened the door, six officers stormed into her house, pointing guns at them, demanding to see Thato, she said.

Two boys and two women, who live near the Mokokas, were with the police. “He (an officer) said to him: ‘These boys say you have a gun.’ Thato denied it. But one boy said Thato’s friend had a gun. Then the other boy said Thato had the gun. The ladies agreed with him. But Thato denied it. Then the police shot him.”

Jabulani police spokesman Warrant Officer Kay Makhubela denied on Wednesday that several officers had stormed the house, saying only two police officers on sector patrol had entered the house.

On Thursday the ICD said the Thato was shot three times. “Once in the back, once in the forehead, and once in the stomach,” said ICD spokesman Moses Dlamini. A post mortem would be done by Friday. - The Star, Sapa

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